Bill Schuette Projected for Re-Election as Michigan Attorney General

With 50 percent of the state's precincts reporting, the Republican incumbent led Democratic challenger Mark Totten by nearly 150,000 votes, giving him a 53 percent to 43 percent lead.

Schuette, 61, was elected Michigan's 53rd attorney general in 2010 with a comfortable victory of Democratic opponent David Leyton. Prior to that, he was elected to the Michigan Court of Appeals for one term in 2002,

In 1984, Schuette defeated a Democratic incumbent to become the U.S. representative for Michigan's 10th district, which at the time included his hometown of Midland. He was re-elected to the seat two times then did not seek re-election in 1990, instead leading an unsuccessful challenge to Democratic U.S. Carl Levin. Schuette served

In 1991, then-Gov. John Engler named Schuette director of the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture. He served until 1993. In '94, he was elected to the Michigan Senate, where he served until 2003.

Mark Totten (courtesy photo)

Schutte's term as AG has been marked by a dogged prosecution against medical marijuana and a continued legal fight against gay marriage even in the face of federal court rulings to the contrary.

Totten is a professor at the Michigan State University College of Law and a former federal prosecutor. He unsuccessfully ran for Michigan Senate in 2010 for a seat representing the Kalamazoo area.